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LECTURE 1 ETHICS Part 1

The document discusses several ethical issues and concepts: 1) It summarizes two historically unethical medical studies: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. 2) It distinguishes between morality, referring to beliefs about good conduct, and ethics, referring to formal study and reflection on morality. 3) The three main branches of ethics are discussed: meta-ethics concerning the nature of right and wrong, normative ethics determining actions that are right or wrong, and applied ethics applying normative ethics to practical situations.

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harminder singh
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32 views23 pages

LECTURE 1 ETHICS Part 1

The document discusses several ethical issues and concepts: 1) It summarizes two historically unethical medical studies: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. 2) It distinguishes between morality, referring to beliefs about good conduct, and ethics, referring to formal study and reflection on morality. 3) The three main branches of ethics are discussed: meta-ethics concerning the nature of right and wrong, normative ethics determining actions that are right or wrong, and applied ethics applying normative ethics to practical situations.

Uploaded by

harminder singh
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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14/10/2020

Ethical issues/ ethical dilemma?

• The Dropping of The Atomic Bomb at


Hiroshima and Nagasaki
“The atom bomb was no great decision. It was merely another powerful weapon in
the arsenal of righteousness.” ~ Harry S. Truman

• Tuskegee Study
“Beginning in the 1930s, 399 men signed up with the U.S. Public Health Service for
free medical care. The service was conducting a study on the effects of syphilis on
the human body. The men were never told they had syphilis. They were told they
had "bad blood" and were denied access to treatment, even for years after
penicillin came into use in 1947. By the time the study was exposed in 1972, 28 men
had died of syphilis, 100 others were dead of related complications, at least 40
wives had been infected and 19 children had contracted the disease at birth."
Ethics vs Morality?

• The terms ethics and morality are often


used interchangeably - indeed, they usually
can mean the same thing, and in casual
conversation there isn't a problem with
switching between one and the other.
• However, there are distinctions between
them in philosophy!
• Morality and ethics have same roots;
• “mores” means manner and customs from the Latin
• “etos” means custom and habits from the Greek.

(Robert Louden, Morality and Moral


Theory)
Ethics vs morality

Morality refers to a moral conduct, while ethics refers to the


formal study of moral conduct. Ethics is also often called moral
philosophy.
Morality: first-order set of beliefs and practices about how to live a good
life.
Ethics: a second-order, conscious reflection on the adequacy of our
moral beliefs.

MORALITY - PRAXIS
ETHICS - THEORY
Ethics and Science

• Science: The intellectual and practical activity


encompassing the systematic study of the
structure and behavior of the physical and natural
world through observation and experiment.

• Ethics: Determining what one should do, whether


right or wrong, good or bad, better or worse.
Ethics is principled and practical, and provides a
guideline for either promotion or prevention of
certain actions.
• What is the difference between an ethical and
unethical action?
– Ethical:
– • Leads to good consequences.
– • Weighs interests fairly.
– • In accord with an ethical principle.

– Unethical:
– • Leads to bad consequences.
– • Doesn’t weigh interests fairly.
– • Violates an ethical principle.
Three branches of ethics

1. Meta-ethics/ analytical ethics Theoretical/


2. Normative ethics philosophical
ethics

3. Applied ethics
Practical
application of
normative ethics
Practical ethics with the use of
meta-ethical
concepts.
1. Meta-ethics

• Concern: determining the nature of judgements of moral


right or wrong, good and bad.

• It is not concerned with finding out which actions or things


are right and wrong, or which states are good and bad, but
with understanding the nature and meaning of concepts
of right and wrong, good and bad.

• Example: Meta-ethics does not ask whether lying is


always wrong. Rather, it tries to ascertain whether there
really is difference between right and wrong, or tries to
clarify what it means to say that an action is right or
wrong.
2. Normative ethics
Norm= standard, or rule,
or principle

Normative ethics is concerned with moral norms = is a norm in the sense of


being a standard with which moral agents ought to comply;. E.g;: "Thou shall
not murder".

people do not comply= morally blamed.

Normative ethics, also known as normative theory, or moral theory, intends


to find out which actions are right and wrong, or which character traits are
good and bad

normative ethics addresses such questions as "Which things are (morally or


ethically) good and bad?" and "What should we do?," thus endorsing some
ethical evaluations and rejecting others
ETHICAL THEORIES

TWO MAIN THEORIES OF NORMATIVE ETHICS:

-UTILITARIANISM
-DEONTOLOGY
1. UTILITARIANISM

• Classical utilitarian theory was developed in the 19th century by


Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

• Classical utilitarianism says that the right action is that which


produces the greatest balance of overall happiness…/ Greatest good
for greatest number.

• utilitarianism is usually classified among "consequentialist" ethical


theories.

• right action depends on the best consequences overall in view of the


principle of utility (welfare)
2. DEONTOLOGY
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE
BETWEEN UTILITARIANISM
AND DEONTOLOGY?
Let us see this example…
• Consider a trolley barrelling down a track that will kill five people
unless diverted. However, on the other track a single person has
been similarly demobilized. Should you pull to lever to divert the
trolley?
Our ethical theories produce the following advice:

• Consequentialism says: pull the lever! One death is awful, but better
than five.

• Deontology says: don’t pull the lever! Any action that takes
innocent life is wrong. The five deaths are awful, but not your fault.
• Things get interesting if we modify the problem as follows. Consider
the footbridge dilemma:

Consider a trolley barrelling down a track that will kill five


people unless diverted. You are standing on a bridge with a
fat man. If you push the fat man onto the track, the trolley
will derail, sparing the five people.
• Notice that the consequences for the action remain the same. Thus,
consequentialism says “push the fat man!”, and deontology says
“don’t push!”

• What about you? Would you push the fat man? Good people
disagree; however, most people confess they would not push the fat
man off the bridge.
Ethical principles
Example:
• four (4) principles of biomedical ethics:
– Non-maleficence- avoid harming participants
– Beneficence- should produce some positive and
identifiable benefit rather than for own sake
– Autonomy-respect participants’ values and
decisions
– Justice- all people should be treated equally
Moral norms
(Mertonian norms)
How to conduct a good science?
Moral Norms (proposed by Merton, 1942):

• Universalism: science be independent of race, color, or creed and that it


should be essentially international.

• Communalism: scientific knowledge should be public knowledge; should


be published; freedom of exchange of scientific information between
scientists everywhere, and that scientist should be responsible to the
scientific community for the trustworthiness of their published work.

• Disinterestedness: Results of scientific research should not be


manipulated to serve personal profit, ideology, or expediency, they
should be honest and objective; yet s&t should be competitive.

• Organized skepticism: scientists should be free to question them and


that the truth of any statement should finally rest on a comparison with
observed fact.

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